This is probably quite simple. I have two Linux servers. Both are running VIrtualmin, one professional, the other GPL. The professional server has a website on it that is static and the customer would like to make it a Wordpress site (simple request). So I thought that if I set the new domain up on the GPL server, run the Wordpress script, instead of messing with my host file I could use the domain alias feature instead. This would also mean a customer could view the site and approve it before I shift it to the Professional server.
Now I have followed the documentation found at https://www.virtualmin.com/documentation/web/faq. I've tweaked the Default Template as per it's recommendations to create an alias when adding a new domain. I have then proceeded to create the domain that resolves to the other pro server. Using the aliasdomain.com.virtualdomain.com I get "This webpage is not available" ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED. This is in Chrome.
Now DNS is handled by another server so I'm not sure if this is a DNS issue. We have also removed BIND DNS from both servers (hopefully I don't need to install it again to get this to work). Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong? If I change my host file to point the different IP address I can do everything I want, but I don't think I can get the customer to make a change to theirs. Plus this will be a neat feature when a customer wants to update something on their wordpress site, I can backup and restore the second server, make the changes and make sure all is good, backup and restore to the main server, minimal downtime.
Comments
Submitted by andreychek on Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:09 Comment #1
Howdy -- well, how do you normally add a DNS entry?
It does indeed sound like a DNS issue -- the key here would just be to make sure your DNS servers have the domain(s) in question added to them.
Submitted by aremdee on Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:20 Pro Licensee Comment #2
Mmm maybe that's the trouble. The website I need to rebuild as Wordpress has DNS pointing to an ip address that ends in 22. The server that I want to build this Wordpress site on has an ip address that ends in 21. My thoughts were that I could treat this as a situation where DNS hadn't been setup for the domain, hence the server alias. The virtual server resides on 21 and I thought that I could just use the alias from it for the domain alias in question.
So DNS for virtualserver.com is pointing to 21. That domain works. Creating the new domain also creates the alias.virtualdomain.com record. Yet that doesn't work. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if there is somewhere else I need to check.
Submitted by andreychek on Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:27 Comment #3
Hmm, I'm not entirely certain I understand your setup.
But it's no problem to use a server alias.
However, the issue you're describing sounds as if there isn't a DNS entry for this particular alias setup.
So how do you normally go about adding DNS entries to your DNS server? You mentioned your DNS server is a remote server, how do DNS entries normally get there?
Submitted by aremdee on Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:45 Pro Licensee Comment #4
I set the domain up on it and then change the A record to point to the Virtualmin server. The email and everything else (including DNS) is handled by the remote server which is a Windows box.
Submitted by andreychek on Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:53 Comment #5
Are you able to share the alias in question?
What I can do is test to see if there's a DNS issue, or if it's something else.
From the description you shared above though it sounds like the DNS entry may not be active at the moment.
Submitted by aremdee on Wed, 12/02/2015 - 01:34 Pro Licensee Comment #6
The domain I'm setting up is swanhillfoodandwine.com.au. It will resolve to 111.223.233.22. The alias I'm trying to do is swanhillfoodandwine.com.au.rdcloud.com.au.
Submitted by aremdee on Sun, 12/06/2015 - 22:30 Pro Licensee Comment #7
Just wondering if you have had a chance to have a look at this yet?
Submitted by andreychek on Sun, 12/06/2015 - 23:22 Comment #8
My bad, for some reason I didn't receive a notification for your earlier comment.
It does indeed appear to be a DNS issue with your DNS provider.
When I perform a DNS lookup on the alias (swanhillfoodandwine.com.au.rdcloud.com.au), it's generating an error similar to what you described seeing in the browser.
The setup of your Virtualmin server is likely correct -- what you'd need to do is review the setup at your DNS provider (I think you mentioned this is a remote Windows server), and make sure that there is an entry for that domain.
Also, you would need to make sure this particular DNS provider (the Windows server) is setup as the nameserver for the rdcloud.com.au domain.
Submitted by aremdee on Sun, 12/06/2015 - 23:34 Pro Licensee Comment #9
Thanks for getting back to me. The windows server is the name server for all the domain we host. A records point to the Linux servers for websites. The DNS A record for rdcloud is 111.223.233.21. MX records etc are pointing to the DNS server which also acts as the mail server.
rdcloud.com.au. A 111.223.233.21 www.rdcloud.com.au. CNAME rdcloud.com.au.
Submitted by andreychek on Sun, 12/06/2015 - 23:40 Comment #10
Okay, that part sounds good then.
It's difficult for me to say what exactly the problem is, as we're not familiar with DNS setup on a Windows server.
But what I can offer is that it definitely appears that there is a problem with the DNS entry for "swanhillfoodandwine.com.au.rdcloud.com.au".
It is not resulting in the IP address you want.
Submitted by aremdee on Mon, 12/07/2015 - 00:14 Pro Licensee Comment #11
So is this a function of BIND perhaps? Does that need to be installed to allow the server to redirect calls to the correct directory or is that an Apache function?
Submitted by andreychek on Mon, 12/07/2015 - 00:23 Comment #12
You aren't seeing an issue on your Virtualmin server, so it can't be fixed with anything on there.
You are seeing an issue on your DNS server, which are outside of your Virtualmin server. You mentioned that this is an external Windows server.
You would need to review the DNS setup for this record on your Windows server, to determine why it's not working properly.
Submitted by aremdee on Mon, 12/07/2015 - 00:31 Pro Licensee Comment #13
I could setup an A record on the Windows server to point to the alias and see if that works. And I can happily report that it does. Just need to remember that I need to setup an A record in Windows first. Thanks for the help.